Questions to Ask When You’re Setting Goals for Yourself
The successful and easy 5 part system I use to set goals
I wrote a post a week or so ago about why you need more than yearly goals. I wanted to follow that post up with this one. So I could explain my process of setting goals and the system I use to set goals that help me get things done.
I’m not perfect when it comes to getting all my goals done and achieved but since using the system I use to set goals almost a year ago. I have seen so much growth in not only my blog and business but in my whole life. I’m going to take it even further in 2017 and wanted to share my process so you could use it too.
Step 1: What are my wishes for the next year
I know I just said you need more than yearly goals or resolutions and you do I completely believe that. Yearly goals don’t work and less than 10% of people achieve their resolutions. I like to start my goal planning with some big wishes or hopes for the new year. You won’t be able to go after your dreams or goals if you don’t clarify them.
So I try and pick 3 to 5 things I hope for the year ahead and I want to work towards. I wanted to share how I keep track of my goals and the system I use. I am a huge fan of Evernote and use it every day for so many things. Here is a screen shot of my note where I have my Goals for 2017 laid out. I always use the checkboxes in all of my lists so I can check things off as done and accomplished. I love to be able to check stuff off!
Step 2: What can I get done in the next 90 days to bring me closer to my year goals
After I have my year goals I break things down further by looking ahead to the next 90 days/3months. Part of the reason yearly goals don’t work is that a year in the future is so hard to predict. There are too many variables. It’s hard for me and you to imagine where we will be in January 2018 but it is easier and more doable to think ahead 3 months.
I try to make my goals for each 90 days build on each other so that it brings me closer to reaching my yearly goals. So for my year goal of getting 10,000 email subscribers I break that goal down and from January to March my goal is to get over 2,000 subscribers. Achieving this goal in the next 3 months won’t get me to my year goal but it will bring me a lot closer. I have found that looking at your big year goals can be a bit intimidating and overwhelming and as you break them down they will get easier to achieve and feel like they will get done.
Step 3: What can I do in the next month to bring me closer to the 90-day goal
Since 90 days is still a fairly long span of time I like to keep breaking my goals down. After 90 day goals, I focus on what I can do in the next month. These monthly goals are designed to bring me closer to my 90-day goals. I also choose to share my monthly goals on my blog. Here are my January goals.
I think that going public with your goals helps make you accountable and more likely to achieve them. It doesn’t mean that you need to post them on a blog or online like I do but just share them with someone. Maybe just a close friend or your spouse. Let them know your goals for the month so that when you achieve them you’ll have someone to tell and when you feel like you won’t meet your goal hopefully you can get some encouragement.
Step 4: What can I do this week to get me to my monthly goals
The key with this method is that you regularly review the goals you’ve set when setting new goals. Now we are on the step of weekly goals so I need to look over my monthly goals. So I can figure out what I want to work on in the week ahead that will bring me closer to my monthly goals.
Now that we are at weekly and monthly goals it’s achievable to be checking things off my goal lists. These goals are in the present and not in the future like the 90- day or yearly goals. Like with this set of weekly goals. I can either break up a monthly goal into weekly tasks or tackle a different monthly goal each week and get them done one at a time. I usually do a mixture of both. Some monthly goals are bigger and need to be broken down. Some I just want to charge at and get them done.
Step 5: What can I do today to move me towards my weekly goals
Now it’s time to go down to daily tasks. These are one of my favorite because if you plan your day out well and work hard. You get to check off your whole list in one day. That is a fantastic feeling. To get everything done that you set out to do that day. Here is an example of my daily task list.
Now I set daily goals every day. That does not mean I get my whole list checked off every day. I wish that I did but some days things go the way you want and stuff get done. Somedays things go wrong and it seems like nothing gets done. The system I use to set goals helps me to get more done, though. Even on days where things don;t go well. I still, can see what I did get done. That gets me closer to my weekly goals, monthly goals and so on.
As you can see the system I use to set goals is easy to use. That is part of what makes it work, though. When I try to make things more complicated that’s when I get frustrated and overwhelmed. Then I end up giving up. This 5 step process lets me break things up and helps them feel doable. If you are struggling to get things accomplished I hope you will use the system I use to get goals a try and see if it works for you too.
